Weather and Suicide of Construction Workers in Australia

Abstract

Abstract The suicide rate among construction workers is high in Australia and other developed countries. Suicide has many negative consequences on the families of the deceased, the construction sector, and the economy. This literature review paper discusses several factors underlying the suicide of construction workers, including relationship problems, untreated psychiatric conditions, job stress, workplace injury, job insecurity, and substance abuse. However, seasonality or weather has not been directly investigated as one of the triggering causes of the suicide of construction workers. The purpose of this paper is to shed more light on the role of weather in increasing the suicide rate. Construction workers, especially blue-collars, work on sites under severe weather conditions. As a result, workers are often exposed to different physical and psychological issues. Research in the psychology field has established the seasonality pattern of suicide among the general population. The review suggests that there is a potential for suicide among construction workers to follow a seasonality pattern with a correlation between the suicide rate and temperature, sunshine, and humidity. This notion is yet to be confirmed using an empirical study in the future.